Attractive, open display of an abundance of merchandise, conducive of favorable purchasing decisions whether or not a patron is assisted by a salesperson, is potentially at odds with limiting inventory costs, reducing the amount of warehousing and other handling, controlling pilferage, and limiting losses attributable to shop worn or out-of-date merchandise. A variety of responses have occurred in response to these problems.
One direction taken has been to install an increasing number of security systems at the retail location including means of surveillance and alarm systems. This however, addresses only the problem of shrinkage attributable to pilferage and tends to create an atmosphere of distrust not conducive to selling.
Another direction taken has been toward limiting the merchandise displayed, as for example in the number of catalog showrooms that have arisen in recent years. This tackles the problems of inventory size, handling, and losses due to out-of-date merchandise, while usually exposing only a single item to wear-and-tear or possible theft while on showroom display.
The above-identified problems have been solved through the use of merchandise information systems as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,437 to Abramson, et al. The system described in that patent, which is assigned to the assignee of this application, eliminates the need for exhibition of the merchandise to the public at the retail location, but instead affords information via display of production information modules, i.e., cards, packets, or similar tactile elements of durable design and material that attractively advertise availability of the product at that outlet and inform the clientele with respect to the product. It substitutes mass display of each item carried with mass display of such information modules, in an array providing high density but individually visible display. It also substitutes physical examination of a particular sample with physical manipulation of the product information module, but without requiring a comparable level of handling by store personnel and without required dedication of a comparable amount of floor space.
In the Abramson, et al. patent, the system includes support means for holding information display means in the form of items or modules having information on front and back sides thereof in high density but individually visible concentration while allowing each and any module to be manipulated by a prospective customer for ready visual access to all the information provided thereon. The support means comprise an extrusion with which the information display means is so associated that the information is readily accessible. In a preferred embodiment disclosed in the Abramson, et al. patent, the support means includes flexible attachment means for permitting the manipulation of the information display means. The support means can be an elongate extrusion mountable on a wall or other surface in a position to allow viewing of the information display means or product information modules. The support means comprises a relatively rigid support having the flexible attachment means connected thereto. The flexible attachment means preferably comprises a plurality of flexible strips extending from the support and having free ends that terminate in attaching means adapted to grip the information display means.
One class of merchandise for which the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,437 is particularly adapted is that of prerecorded video tapes. Presently tapes of concerts, motion pictures, or the like are distributed with a cassette housing provided with pictures and other labelling that identify the contents, artists, producers, and such other possible aids to selection as plot synopsis, critical acclaims, and awards. A retailer may store the cassette packages on shelves accessible to the public or maintain them behind a counter, in which case the sales impact of the labelling is substantially reduced. If offering the tapes for rent, the cassette is often removed and the housing only displayed on shelving, requiring that the housing be brought to the checkout counter and tape and housing matched. The alternative practice of openly displaying cassette and housing together, or perhaps cassette with specialized housing, requires a good deal of confidence in the store's other security measures. All of the above practices have drawbacks that are overcome by such application of time, space or restrictive practices that purveying of such tapes has been primarily limited to speciality stores.
Application of the system disclosed in the Abramson, et al. patent permits attractive displays for many different types of products including video cassettes marketed with or without cassette housings, compact disks and even houses (e.g., in a real estate office). In the tape store application, information that went on the housing package is now placed on the product information module, employing space on the front and back of the module. A customer makes his selection at the array presented, being able to view the modules, read information contained thereon front or back by turning it on its hinge, and obtain his selection at the checkout having access to the actual cassette.
While the novel merchandise system of Abramson, et al has significant advantages over the prior art, it has now been found desirable to enhance the security of such systems to prevent theft of the information display cards.